Don't Say I Can't
by Rahne4227
Summary: Jade's got a script percolating, and Cat wants in.  So what if it's a love story?  Jade's no hack, she's an auteur.  She'll find a way to get it right. Cat/Jade story.  Chapter 3 is a Halloween special, courtesy of a flashfic challenge with Scriblitte!
1. Chapter 1

Sikowitz was trying to throw them off again. Half-way through a scene from a play about improv actors he ambushed Beck and Robbie with the challenge to be two people who spoke English but did not actually understand it when spoken to them. That was…interesting. Lots of yelling.

Jade was pretty much over this class, at least for the day. Her temper had been tapping the redline all day and something was going to set it off in a cascade of snark any minute now. In three, two, one-

"Jade!" Sikowitz called out. Right on time. "You! I hear you're working on a new script!"

Ask her to talk about her films? One that wasn't even written yet? There's a conflict for you. "Are you asking an actual question or just saying random words again?"

"Which means yes." The victory dance was familiar by now. Which drove her absolutely *crazy.*

Cat bounced in her seat. "You are? Yay!" Her happy big eyes swiftly changed to wary big eyes. "Wait, not a scary one like the one with the tricycle?"

Jade looked at Cat like she was crazy. Out of that whole film, Cat picks the kid's *bike* to find freaky and disturbing. "No, this one's a drama." She saw everyone lean forward, ready to listen. She raised her eyebrow at them until they realized it was healthier to find something else to talk about. Works in progress were *not* discussed until the skeleton was in place.

Sikowitz looked intrigued. "I'm intrigued. Human drama or daytime drama?" This was one of the things she liked about this otherwise insane teacher. He had a lot of the same associations she did, and they often got into very oblique conversations.

"Daytime drama, but a life span of perhaps a year. And with a hint of-" The bell rang and Sikowitz hit the deck. So that ended that, since he was now convinced that his shadow was caught in the rug.

Cat accosted her at her locker, something that hadn't happened in a while. "Can I be in your movie this time?"

"Hey, here's the thing. It's a two person story, really, and Beck and I-"

The redhead pouted. "Aw, anything Beck can do I can do, come on!" Clearly Jade had successfully trained at least Cat to keep her distance from Beck but that made this particular speculative script unlikely- drama in this case was a love story, but not a lame one, a really good one.

"Cat, you're a girl too, remember? This is a couple-type story so that's not going to work, get it?" She explained as if to a child.

Cat looked at Jade like *she* was crazy. "Did you just say that you won't make a movie about two girls in love? How come?" She was genuinely interested.

"What? No, it's just…" Actually, there was no earthly reason this idea couldn't work with two girls. It would take some tweaking of course, and a little research, but film schools would fall all *over* themselves if she could make something like that, and make it *good.*

And it would be fun to make a movie with Cat. They'd been friends for a long time but how long had it been since she had Cat on camera? "I'll tell you what Cat, give me a couple of days to shake through my ideas and I'll let you know, okay?" She slammed her locker door.

Cat squealed and gave her a big hug. "Yay! I love Jade's movies," she pulled away and toyed with her fingertips, her eyes going off into the distance. "Except the ones with the mutated bicycle children."

Jade blinked. "You know that boy was just *riding* the trike, he wasn't supposed to be, like, merged with it."

"Really?" Cat's eyes went big again. "That's still pretty scary, though."

"Riiiiight. Later, Cat. Hello, Beck." He came up to her left side and everything in life was suddenly pretty damn good.

Fast forward two days, and the idea just kept getting better. This was going to be a hell of a story and probably her best movie yet, after that scary thing. Running through it in her head, but swapping the male character for a female worked perfectly every time. In her head she saw the shots lined up, all the beats would be hit just right.

Then Cat read the script outline at lunch one day. "This doesn't sound like two girls at all. I'm confused, did I not get the part? Is it Beck after all? If so, congratulations Beck!" The tragedy-comedy masks had nothing on Cat for mood swings.

Beck leaned forward. "Told you. You can't just trade a boy for a girl and get the same results."

"Don't tell me I can't do something!" Jade glared. "I don't know what you're talking about, and can we talk about it later? Cat, you're coming over tonight for a read-through, okay?" Cat nodded, happy to have gotten the part- again.

The read-through was awful, and she was really glad only Cat was there to witness it. "You're right, this is crap! Ugh, what did I do wrong?" She hurled a cheap porcelain vase into a corner that was full of crockery shards. This was just where things got thrown. It had seemed wise to have a designated area for that in Jade's studio.

"Stop making *her* sound like *him.* She isn't him. See? Easy!" Cat shrugged and hit her with that 'you're dumb but I love you anyway' smile. It was always a little odd to get that look from CAT of all people.

Jade was frustrated but she agreed. "I'll try again. Go home now."

"Kay kay, bye Jade! See you at school tomorrow!" Cat hugged her on the way out the door and laughed out loud to herself that part of her goodbye rhymed, but not that last part, because it was so hard to find a rhyme for tomorrow, or the word tomorrow, or something-

Jade closed the door on all that…whatever. She chucked her script outline onto the pile of broken china plates and mugs and jars and went to bed, thinking angrily. How was she supposed to know what girls were like together? She dated *boys,* liked *boys* and had never even thought about girls herself because why would she. Because she was a *film maker* damn it, and why shouldn't she be able to make ANY movie? Really, she was planning to be pretty stubborn about this ever since Cat brought it up.

So she thought about it. Not what if Beck was a girl, but what if she, Jade, was dating an actual girl? What if she was dating Cat herself, even? That sounded pretty safe. Who didn't love Cat?

It was safe to say that imagining dating Cat helped a lot. After toying with things for a good ten minutes, she thought it was time to actually get started. She reached a bit, fumbling at first, then found there wasn't anything there *too* much different than boys; but the details were all important. Jade was concentrating pretty hard; it seemed like there was suddenly a floodgate that had opened, and the subtleties of the concept for the whole thing began to shift slightly into new territory. She was a bit astonished to realize that there were aspects she hadn't yet considered, and each one had a thousand pleasant paths. The idea built up for a while, teasingly staying just near enough for her to miss when she tried, until she nearly had it half a dozen times. But really, it was all about the process and that process was a bliss of its own. When the idea finally came in full force, her smile of satisfaction was genuine and she sat back, spent.

A page full of a wildly written plot synopsis sat on her desk and her pen hand was tired. "There. Although, I may need another actress in this, as a third party. I wonder if Tori would be interested in a part."

* * *

><p>AN: Flashfic challenge with Scriblitte. I do not own Victorious, and write here only for my own entertainment, and hopefully for that of others. I giggled a lot writing this, especially that last bit.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

There was something different about the second read-through. It wasn't just that it went so much better than the last one- which Jade never intended to think of again- it was the way Cat was acting.

No, not the way she was *acting* acting, it was… look, Cat was being Cat, but so focused. Jade was pretty passionate about her films but she sort of assumed that no one took them as seriously as she did. People liked them but they didn't put their guts into them like she did, you know? Even Beck seemed to be humoring her sometimes. But Cat? Not only was she the reason this had gotten so much better than it started out to be, but the suggestions she kept offering were so good, so *real* that Jade was a little awed.

And frankly it was spooky the way Cat hadn't gone off on a tangent in the last hour and a half.

"Like this part, right?" Cat said, moving shoulder to shoulder with Jade to point at something on her copy even though they both had one. "I still think this is a moment that should be stronger. She says it so easily."

"How do you know all this!" Jade finally blurted out then backpedaled a bit. "I mean, what in the script shows that it's easy for the character to say?"

"That's not what I mean! There's no tension, and I think a moment like that needs some tension." Cat was oddly firm about it, and she bumped Jade's shoulder again for emphasis.

"There is *too* tension, lots of it!" Jade protested, stung. "You want fraught? This right here is *totally* fraught with tension!"

The corners of Cat's lips turned up. "Here's how it's written. Watch, okay?" She turned Jade to face her by grabbing her by the shoulders. Her eyes dropped to the page in her lap briefly, then came back up to meet Jade's gaze as she delivered the line. "'But wouldn't you rather try it anyway? It won't hurt, I promise.'" And she drew Jade in for a kiss, because that's what was written on the page.

To be honest, Jade had sort of forgotten that this was a film she intended to star in with Cat. The process got sort of abstract when she was writing, but this was a hell of a reminder. It was a good line read, and a good kiss, pretty much exactly how the scene played in her head. "I, uh, don't see the problem?"

Cat tilted her head and gave Jade a wide-eyed, indignant look. "You have to let me do it the other way too!" She flipped her long red hair over her shoulders so it hung loose at the front and this time when she looked at Jade things were different. "But maybe, just this once, instead of saying 'of course not,' maybe this time… you say 'yes.'" Cat's hand came up to stroke Jade's cheek, leaning in as she delivered the rest of the line. "I promise not to let you get hurt."

Cat had changed the lines significantly and the kiss was just as different. *There* was the tension and Jade found herself responding to the kiss entirely in character- hesitant at first, then it seemed like the most important thing in the world not to let it stop too soon. The kiss ended naturally, not cut off like 'demo over.'

Here's the thing about the kiss that just happened. No, start with the other one first. It was a stage kiss, plain and simple. It had the *right* amount of reality. This one? WAY TOO MUCH. Jade's face was flushed and she was furious to hear herself stammering like some stage newb. "I-I think I s-see what you mean there, Cat." Then she felt the need to defend her script. "But what was up with all that extra stuff? I'm not saying it doesn't work, it's just…" She stopped, trying desperately to remember why she was objecting at all.

Cat, who was just smiling at Jade the way she always did as if she hadn't just blown Jade's fuse with that kiss- so to speak… anyway, Cat just shrugged happily. "It sounded good, right? And I was thinking…" NOW the redhead blushed slightly. "I've, um, been thinking about the story? And I know it's *totally* your movie, but… ideas, and stuff, well they kinda came to me? About how the story can go."

Jade looked into Cat's hopeful wide eyes. If it weren't for how totally thrown off by that kiss she was, she might never have said the words that next came out. "I want to hear your ideas." Crap, what was she thinking? A co-written script for a Jade film? That is just plain crazy-talk. But again, Cat reacted with such uninhibited joy, squealing and wrapping her arms around Jade's shoulders, and she couldn't take the words back.

A bleeping from Cat's phone saved Jade from having to point out to Cat that the hug should have finished a full second ago. Cat checked her message and her face was immediately sad and stormy. "Oh man, I have to go home! My brother needs-"

"No need for details!" Jade interrupted. "Just go help the little weirdo!" For some ungodly reason she was actually worried that that might have been a little harsh, so she softened it with, "See you in school tomorrow, right?"

Cat got up and gathered her stuff together, her lips moving with some silent words. When Jade escorted her to the studio door, Cat gave her the biggest grin, then very carefully said aloud what she'd been practicing with a theatrical wave of her hand. "Bye Jade, see you tomorrow! Til then, do you have a dollar I can borrow?"

Jade looked at her blankly. "You've been working on a goodbye rhyme and *that* is what you came up with?" Cat nodded vigorously, still wide-eyed, her hands clasped and resting against her chin. Jade realized the girl was waiting for her *real* reaction. After another blink, Jade burst out laughing. "Very nice, Cat! Here's some candy!" There was a dish of those lame chalky mints next to the door for emergencies and Jade grabbed one and held it out.

To her surprise, Cat didn't take it and pop it in her mouth. No, she bent her head down and took it from Jade's fingers with her lips. The reaction that took place in Jade's body at that contact shouldn't even be physiologically possible, but it sure as hell happened. She didn't really have time to process that, because Cat looked at her again with a more serious expression.

"Seriously, can I have a dollar for the bus?"


	3. Chapter 3  Halloween special

Jade woke up the next morning and it was Halloween. She knew it was Halloween because when she got to school she was the only one not in a costume. Or so she thought, but then why was everyone complimenting her on her creative and awesome costume? For what felt like the third time Jade ducked into the bathroom and stared into the mirror to make sure she hadn't sprouted a clown nose between home and school. "Nope, still not dressed as anything!" She yelled it loud enough for anyone who cared to hear, and lots who didn't. It didn't even get her any weird looks, which really should have been a clue.

When she walked out of the bathroom, Cat was there, and oddly she didn't seem to look any different than usual. "Yay, Jade dressed up today too!" and she gave Jade a big hug. The hug was nice to be sure, but it was a little weird when Cat pulled back only to dive right into a great big, really great kiss. Once the kiss got going there was zero weird left. Cat's lips were soft, and she was using that minty lip balm again. "Because it makes my lips feel cold even when they're not," Cat whispered, breaking off the kiss only enough to make room for the words.

Never mind that Cat had just read Jade's mind- how would _that_ be the weirdest part of this day- but the kiss had gotten started again, and it was progressing rapidly. The next thing Jade knew she had Cat down on the floor of what she could have sworn was the school hallway. She even thought she heard Sikowitz cheering for the two of them getting so into character, but somehow that didn't bother her in the slightest as her hands were busy learning about Cat's body. Cat's kiss was demanding and deep, her tongue pressing and exploring and good grief, was she actually purring? That's a big Oh-Em-Gee yes.

They weren't at school anymore and that was better by a whole lot considering they were both naked. It should be disturbing that they were actually in Beck's Airstream but Jade didn't care because those curious hands of Cat's, small and light, were leaving trails of heat on her entirely bare skin.

Jade woke up the next morning and it was Halloween. She knew it was Halloween because she received a text message from Cat, asking what she was dressing up as for school. Instead of texting back Jade called her friend. "Yeah, Cat? I'm taking a mental health day. No school for me today. Sorry."

"Aww?" Cat's disappointment was practically visible from Jade's speaker. "But you love Halloween! And you're gonna miss my great costume! I'm dressing up as someone from your movie!"

Jade froze. "Yeah?" She said slowly. "Well, I'll tell you what. Come by here after school and show me your costume. I'll be hiding in the bushes with a hose to keep the little monsters from doing anything to the house, so make some noise when you come, okay?"

"That sounds okay, sure!" From the sound of it, this wasn't Cat's favorite idea, but she didn't argue.

Jade dropped her phone and then herself onto her bed, totally wigged out. Was she really hiding out at home because she couldn't deal with having had an erotic dream about Cat, an incredibly _realistic _erotic dream that she was still thinking about? "Ugh, I am such an amateur!" She sat up and slapped herself a couple of times. "It's this script; it's all I've got on my mind and I need to get it off- my mind!" Blushing furiously, Jade headed for the shower, glad that she was home alone today.

She spent the school day in her studio, cutting B-roll footage from some of her previous films into a dark and terrifying story about a lamp that hates everyone in the house it lives in, even trying to kill its owner. But it didn't make her feel much better. Time did pass, though, and she was finally FINALLY able to get wrapped up in that little diversion when her cell buzzed. "Five already?" She better make sure the neighborhood heathens didn't get any ideas about Halloween pranks on her house. Not that they'd dare, not after last year, but she wasn't going to miss out on the chance to hose down strangers for even considering it.

And she'd sort of forgotten that Cat was coming by, so her distraction had worked after all. And she nearly keeled over with surprise when she saw Cat's costume. The girl wasn't dressed as Renee, the newly out gay girl from their current project like in her dream but… as the scary kid on the tricycle. From her other movie.

"Uh, wow Cat! That's really great?" Her sentence turned up at the end as if as confused as Jade herself, but Cat didn't seem to care.

"Really? You like it? It is SO spooky, I even chased Sikowitz down the hall! But I think he might have been running from Lane, who was dressed as a giant coconut." All of this was said with Cat's usual enthusiasm, as if nothing at all weird had happened.

Jade sighed. Of course nothing weird happened to Cat. At least, no weirder than usual for Hollywood Arts- it was all in Jade's head. Just a dream. And dreams don't mean anything anyway, she told herself.

Suddenly there was the raucous sound of a group of kids- Northridge, by the sound of it- threatening to toilet paper the entire street. Jade gestured for Cat to hide with her and Cat did, pedaling her tricycle into the bushes. And parking it on Jade's hose, incidentally. No water came out of the nozzle when Jade spun the valve open. A little investigation took place and, long story short, Jade was looking right into the thing when Cat stood up, unkinking the hose.

One thing led to another and there was a full-blown water fight going on in the bushes in front of Jade's house. It was a good thing that Cat said Jade's name a bunch because the Northridge kids finally realized whose turf they were on and practically left puffs of smoke behind them they vanished so fast. So there was no one around to witness one part of Jade's dream come true- the part where she was feeling Cat's hands leave trails of heat on her skin. But it really was just because the water was cold, and Cat had completely forgotten that Jade wasn't ticklish. Somehow, Jade didn't feel like reminding her.

Because this might be a dream too, after all. For all she knew, she'd wake up tomorrow and it would be Halloween again.


End file.
